Meet the candidates to be West Roxbury's state rep.

Wednesday

Aug 11, 2010 at 12:01 AMAug 11, 2010 at 11:13 AM

Editor’s note: The Transcript invited all six candidates for the 10th Suffolk seat in the House of Representatives — Matthew Benedetti, Edward Coppinger, Bob Joyce, Pam Julian, Paul Sullivan and Kelly Ann Tynan — to participate in a profile for this week’s edition. (Coppinger did not respond to the Transcript’s request before the paper’s deadline.)

All six Democrats vie to replace State Rep. Mike Rush to represent West Roxbury and parts of Brookline and Roslindale. Rush is leaving the seat open to run for state Senate in his district. The state primary is set for Sept. 14.

John Hilliard / Staff Writer

Editor’s note: The Transcript invited all six candidates for the 10th Suffolk seat in the House of Representatives — Matthew Benedetti, Edward Coppinger, Bob Joyce, Pam Julian, Paul Sullivan and Kelly Ann Tynan — to participate in a profile for this week’s edition. (Coppinger did not respond to the Transcript’s request before the paper’s deadline.)

All six Democrats vie to replace State Rep. Mike Rush to represent West Roxbury and parts of Brookline and Roslindale. Rush is leaving the seat open to run for state Senate in his district. The state primary is set for Sept. 14.

Matt Benedetti: Neighborhood candidate

West Roxbury resident Matt Benedetti promised voters in the 10th Suffolk House District that if he’s elected, their priorities and concerns will be heard on Beacon Hill.

“I don’t care what the political establishment thinks; I’m not indebted to anyone but the people of the district,” said Benedetti.

A graduate of Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UMass-Amherst.

He’s now a staff sergeant in the Air Force assigned to the 104th Fighter Wing in Westfield. Benedetti worked as a 911 operator with Boston Police, a legislative aide for the City Council, and has also served in the National Guard.

He said his experience working as a legislative aide taught him how to get things done as a lawmaker. As a representative, Benedetti said he would study ways of improving veteran services and care, plus find ways of stabilizing medical costs for seniors living on fixed incomes.

He tried running in 2008 against Rush, but wasn’t able to meet requirements for the number of signatures to get on the ballot.

Bob Joyce: Running as the mediator

West Roxbury’s Bob Joyce said the state needs to come to a consensus that spending needs to be reduced, and sees himself as the candidate to make that agreement happen.

“I have to improve dialogue between all the legitimate entities that want a slice of the pie, and how it will be allocated,” said Joyce, later noting, “We’re spending too much money, and it’s got to stop.”

Joyce is a lifelong Boston resident and Catholic Memorial High School graduate, where he was captain of the basketball team. He has master’s degrees in social work and in law from Florida State University, and has worked as an attorney for about 35 years.

He said he’ll work on building consensus between voters, relying on his experience as an attorney to work with groups with different viewpoints.

“I can listen to any person, I can listen to any opinion, and respond in a way that is professional and reasonable,” said Joyce, who peppers his speech with references to JFK and Lincoln.

A major issue for him is reducing the state’s growing debt — CNN Money pegs the Massachusetts state debt at about $4,600 per capita — but Joyce pegs the figure at more than $10,000.

“We’re going in the wrong direction in Massachusetts, going deeper and deeper into debt,” said Joyce.

He said making specific proposals on budget cuts would be divisive for voters, and right now people need to agree that spending needs to be reduced in general.

He said he supports encouraging a business-friendly climate in Massachusetts to spur job growth, and he also wants a charitable deduction for taxpayers to encourage greater choice for people to donate, he said.

Pam Julian: Unify the district

Pam Julian — the only Brookline resident running for the 10th Suffolk seat — has an ambitious plan to unify the district that spans three communities.

“The status quo Boston politicians aren’t interested in bringing this district together,” said Julian, who also said, “I see our district, the 10th District, as broken.”

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y.,with concentrations in public policy, political science, psychology and film studies. On her website, Julian said she is the host of a live radio talk show for a CBS affiliate in New Hampshire, owned and operated an after-school care program, owned an inn and cottage business, and a real estate development firm.

She is also founder of a group called the Help Students Vote! Coalition, which is aimed at establishing an “integrated civic curriculum on high school and college campuses.” A Web search by a TAB reporter did not reveal a website or physical address for the organization.

She said she’s developing legislation that she said would allow high school and college students who are of voting age to register to vote on campus to spur enrollment of young voters.

Julian said she didn’t rent space for a campaign office, saying that spending the money on that expense wouldn’t be worth it.

“A lot of what I’m doing is listening. I’m not imposing. I’m interested in listening to the problems people are talking about,” Julian said.

In 2008, Julian ran unsuccessfully against Rush in the Democratic primary.

Julian is pushing for the candidates of the 10th Suffolk to participate in an online forum.

“I’m picking up where I left off,” said Julian.

If elected, Julian wants to establish a board that would include representatives from Brookline, West Roxbury and Roslindale to address common concerns of residents across the district. Right now, she said, residents of the “gerrymandered” district aren’t connected.

“This campaign is about bringing people together after the election to solve problems,” said Julian.

Julian dismisses concerns that a Brookline resident can’t win election to the House seat, where a majority of its voters are in Boston and she’s running against five other candidates, all of whom are also from the city.

She said many Brookline and West Roxbury residents travel between the two communities daily, and that a Brookline resident can represent a district with a majority of residents in Boston.

“This isn’t the horse-and-buggy days,” she said.

Paul Sullivan: Prosecutor, not politician

After working three years as an assistant district attorney in Norfolk County, Paul Sullivan is aiming for an outsider role as the next state representative for the 10th Suffolk.

“I think voters are angry about what they perceive to be corruption among elected officials,” said Sullivan, later noting, “I’m a prosecutor by trade” and not a politician.

Sullivan, a Roslindale native, graduated from Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, and later earned his law degree from the New England School of Law. As an ADA under Norfolk DA Bill Keating, Sullivan worked in several courts, including a stint at Brookline District Court. He now works as a private attorney — he resigned from the DA’s office to run for the House seat — and volunteers as a youth sports coach.

He’s a member of West Roxbury Main Streets, where a fellow candidate for the 10th Suffolk, Kelly Ann Tynan, was the executive director.

Sullivan said he is a supporter of some form of expanded gambling, which he believes will help promote jobs here. But he doesn’t back a proposal for three full-size resort casinos and additional locations for slots, hoping for a scaled-back approach.

He said that some money earned from casino revenues should be funneled into support and treatment programs for addiction and other issues. He said such programs can help people, but budgets have limited their effectiveness, often forcing patients to leave treatment before they’re ready.

“I don’t think its serves that person or the community any good … to send them back early” from treatment.

He also backs CORI reform, which would seal the records for specific offenses after a shorter period of time than the current law allows. He said that some charges — such as rape and murder — shouldn’t be sealed, but less serious offenses shouldn’t be an obstacle to getting a job and becoming a productive member of society.

He said the state needs to promote alternative energy and biotech industries to be at the forefront of those business trends. He also supported tax incentives for small business development, pointing to vacant storefronts that dot Beacon Street as an example of a needed area of economic growth.

Local communities should also be able to collect taxes from colleges and universities, instead of relying on payment in lieu of taxes agreements, to help defray the costs of local services incurred by the schools, he said.

Kelly Tynan: Education leads to success

Kelly Tynan, a teacher running for the 10th Suffolk House seat, links her campaign to her work in the classroom, promising to regularly visit the schools of the district and see firsthand what educators need to succeed.

“It’s extremely important for children to have the resources and go to school until they are 18,” said Tynan.

Tynan grew up in West Roxbury, and she graduated from Boston Latin in 1996. Later, she earned graduate degrees in public administration from Suffolk University and teaching from Simmons College.

She works as a fourth-grade teacher — most recently at the George H. Conley School in Roslindale — and is member of several community organizations, including West Roxbury Main Streets (where she was the executive director), the Ward 20 Democratic Committee and the Hyde Park Savings Bank.

When she announced her campaign, the issue didn’t come up in class until her Web-saavy students discovered her campaign materials online. She said she hopes her campaign gives them something to look up to.

“I enjoy being an example for my students that they can have a great future,” she said.

As state representative, Tynan said she would make monthly visits to each school in her district and meet with teachers, parents and students about their needs and learn “whatever I can do to assist them.”

She said schools should seek private-public partnerships where possible, such as programs that allow private companies to provide classroom computers. She also seeks a minimum school enrollment age of 5 and would require kids to remain in school until age 18, plus she wants better programs to address autism and anti-bullying efforts, among other efforts.

She also pledged to hold regular meetings with the local business community to keep them updated on measures from Beacon Hill, and hear what their needs are. Locally, she calls for increases in local licensing for restaurants, job training and assistance for small businesses.

She said the state needs to re-evaluate its spending.

“We need to make sure that money is going to programs that are working,” said Tynan.

She supports efforts to create three resort-style casinos in the state, but wants limited use of slot machines, and no slots available at dog tracks, she said.

“We need to do everything we can to create these jobs so these casinos can come to life,” said Tynan.

She also supports stronger policies for law enforcement, including GPS monitoring for people convicted of breaking restraining orders, more analysts working on drug cases, support for sexual assault victims and other programs.

“We all want to feel safe where we live … I know I feel safe that law enforcement has the proper resources to protect me,” said Tynan.

John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@cnc.com or 781-433-8362.